James “Buddy” McGirt is a former world champion and a legendary boxing coach. His coaching skills were on display as his fighter Janibek Alimkhanuly knocked out Steven Butler in two rounds on Saturday night in Stockton, California. Amongst McGirt’s stable of fighters are Sergey Kovalev, Callum Smith, and Dillian Whyte.
ProBox TV News recently caught up with McGirt to get his perspective on Anthony Joshua’s fight against Jermaine Franklin. In Franklin’s previous fight, he had fought Dillian Whyte to a split-decision loss, that some thought Franklin should’ve won - that was also McGirt’s first time working with Whyte.
McGirt didn’t mince words when he said that as McGirt was at the event to corner Ziyad Almaayouf, a fighter from Saudi Arabia who has moved to America to chase his dream of becoming a boxing world champion. McGirt expected Joshua, one that wasn’t met by the coach's standards.
“That means I honestly thought [Anthony] Joshua was going to stop [Jermaine Franklin] in a couple of rounds.”
Joshua was working with Derrick James for the first time in his career, and that may or may not have played a role in his flat performance, but the overall theme of the fight was timidity. It could also be Franklin as he Franklin seems to get no credit in making two world-class fighters look bad, as Whyte looked shaky as well with Franklin.
As for Whyte, McGirt confirmed the two have talked, but besides that - nothing of note.
“Nothing yet,” said McGirt to ProBoxTV News. “He just called me two days ago, and he is waiting [for a fight date].”
